Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD87559 Case Number: AD8766 Section / Act: S13(9) Parties: AER LINGUS - and - FWUI;ITGWU |
Appeal by the Unions against Rights Commissioner's Recommendation No. CW44/87.
Recommendation:
5. Having considered all the circumstances of this case, the
Court does not find that there are grounds for altering the Rights
Commissioner's recommendation.
The Court so decides.
Division: Ms Owens Mr Shiel Mr O'Murchu
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD87559 THE LABOUR COURT AD66/87
SECTION 13(9) INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969
APPEAL DECISION NO. 66 OF 1987
PARTIES: AER LINGUS
AND
IRISH TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS' UNION
FEDERATED WORKERS' UNION OF IRELAND
(CIVIL AVIATION BRANCH)
SUBJECT:
1. Appeal by the Unions against Rights Commissioner's
Recommendation No. CW44/87.
BACKGROUND:
2. On the 14th August, 1986, an armed payroll robbery took place
at the Company's head-office at Dublin Airport. As a result of
this the Company decided to pay all weekly paid staff by cheque
the following week, 21st August, 1986. Up to this time
fortnightly paid staff were paid by credit transfer and weekly
paid staff were paid by a combination of cash and cheque (#70 in
cash and the balance by cheque). As a result of the change there
was a work stoppage for a period of approximately three hours by a
number of workers. The payroll system returned to normal in
subsequent weeks and the Unions claimed restoration of monies
deducted in respect of the three hours' lost pay deducted from
those involved in the work stoppage. Management rejected this and
the matter was referred to a Rights Commissioner for investigation
and recommendation.
3. The Rights Commissioner, having investigated the dispute on
the 16th April, 1987, issued the following recommendation on the
8th May:-
"I recommend that the Company accepts that it broke the
Agreement and that the Unions accept that no payment or
benefit is due to the workers who suffered deductions as a
result of work stoppages."
This recommendation was rejected by the Unions and they appealed
it to the Labour Court under Section 13(9) of the Industrial
Relations Act, 1969. A Court hearing was held on the 30th July,
1987.
Unions' arguments:
4. (a) The dispute referred to the Rights Commissioner by the
Unions was non-payment for the period of the stoppage.
While the alleged breach of agreement by the Company is
the primary basis of the Unions' claim for recompense,
it was not of itself the source of dispute. The
adjudication on this matter which is included in the
Rights Commissioner's Recommendation is therefore
pointless and while it may give the appearance of
even-handedness, it makes no contribution to resolving
the issue in dispute. On the contrary, members are
infuriated that the Company is told to acknowledge that
it breached the agreement but that they should be
penalised.
(b) The Company clearly broke both the procedural and
productivity agreements. While there may have been
reasonable cause for wishing to change the agreements on
either an interim or permanent basis, there clearly was
not reasonable cause for unilaterally terminating the
agreements without prior discussion. It is probable
that had the matter been dealt with by an immediate
meeting, and an exposition of the problem, an interim
arrangement would have been arrived at which took
account of the safety risks in the present system.
(c) It should be noted that at the time the method of
payment of wages had quite a high profile as an issue
and a greater than normal potential for conflict. As
far as members were concerned, their "reasonable cause"
for amending the fortnightly pay agreement and seeking
the implementation of the Truck Acts was rejected by the
Company whereas when the positions were reversed, the
Company felt that it could implement a decision
unilaterally and perhaps "consult" later.
Company's arguments:
5. (a) At the Rights Commissioner's hearing on 16th April,
1987, the Company accepted that it was in technical
breach of the agreement but that the circumstances were
exceptional. An armed payroll robbery had taken place
with serious danger to the lives of staff. The thieves
were in possession of facts in relation to the size of
the payroll and the amount of cash available.
Therefore, it was of crucial importance to alter
security arrangements in order to protect the payroll
and safeguard the lives of staff. It was not possible
to make these new arrangements in the time between the
robbery on 14th August and decision day of 18th August
for payroll. Delaying the decision beyond 18th August
could have disrupted the entire weekly payout for that
week and indeed there would have been no pay for up to
1,000 staff.
(b) In the absence of an alternative method of getting as
much of the weekly payout as possible behind the airport
security net the decision was taken to go for a cheque
only payment on that week and the Unions and staff were
informed of the decision. The Personnel Manager advised
each Union by letter and all staff by a Staff
Information Notice (details supplied to the Court).
(c) Out of 1,000 staff involved only 86 people took
unofficial action and of these 20 were paid fortnightly
and not affected in any way by the weekly pay system.
Once a satisfactory security operation was in place the
Company immediately reverted to the old system of
cash/cheque for weekly paid staff. This was ready the
following week and proves there was nothing sinister in
the change to cheque payment. At most there was a minor
limited inconvenience for all the staff involved but a
major security problem for the Company. The action of
the staff involved in the unofficial stoppage was
unreasonable and unjustified in the circumstances and
over 20% of them were not affected in any way.
DECISION:
5. Having considered all the circumstances of this case, the
Court does not find that there are grounds for altering the Rights
Commissioner's recommendation.
The Court so decides.
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
24th August, 1987 Evelyn Owens
DH/MF Deputy Chairman.